E AIMA WEAE ISIUE QUAEY .O. O 3650 WASIGO, DC 20007 SPRING 1989 VOL. 8, O. h Afrn lphnt t b Cloak and dagger at US Surgical dlrd ndnrd A commercial laboratory, US Surgical of Thirty-eight animal welfare and conserva- The African elephant is experiencing a Norwalk, Connecticut, has gained notori- tion groups submitted a formal petition to population crash in at least 90% of its ety from increasingly suspicious circum- Secretary of the Interior Lujan on February range. The African Elephant and Rhino stances surrounding the case of a woman 16th requesting him to list the African ele- Specialist Group estimated in 1987 that 11 who allegedly sought to kill its president phant as an endangered species, pursuant to African nations had elephant populations and founder, Leon C. Hirsch. the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The numbering less than 1,000 animals, and When the news first broke that Fran Trutt petition cites poaching and smuggling by another eight had fewer than 5,000 ele- had been arrested by Norwalk police as she the commercial ivory trade as the pri- phants. The African elephant is was placing a pipe bomb filled with nails mary cause of the precipitous de- without a doubt in danger of ex- near Leon Hirsch's reserved parking place cline of elephant populations tinction in virtually all of its his- at US Surgical, some New York papers throughout Africa. toric range." devoted their whole first page to the news. Interior listed the African The petition cites 1) the Huge headlines, "Bow Wow Bomber" and elephant as 'threatened' in increased availability of "uy Love," carried what appeared to be 1978 having "decided to de- automatic weapons to at the time a simple message; an enraged pend on the Convention for poachers as a result of wars animal lover had tried to murder the head of International Trade in Endan- and civil unrest and 2) the a laboratory. gered Species to regulate the rapidly rising price of ivory, But local Connecticut newspapers had, ivory trade, in hopes that ille- as basic causes for the mas- from the start, asked more questions. gal ivory exports would disap- sive poaching and quotes The company eventually admitted using pear. However, a report sub- from R. Barnes' contribu- spies, according to The New York Times, mitted to CITES by the United tion to the African Elephant (January 26, 1989) "to infiltrate animal- Nations EnvironmentProgram Database Project: ". it is rights organizations since the early 1980's." recognized that in 1987 'legal no surprise that whole vil- (Continued on page 2) exports accounted for only lages should have aban- 22% of the trade.' Illegal, or doned their normal farming S I E poached, ivory is the norm to- activities in order to turn to day. full-time ivory poaching." • Immuno loses in "In 1986 alone, approxi- Professor Colin W. libel suit 5 mately 89,000 elephants are Clark of the University estimated to have died, pri- of British Columbia's • Fur prices fall 7 marily as a result of poaching, Institute of Applied to supply the world ivory trade. Mathematics is • Ambassador fired for smuggling quoted in the peti- 8 tion. An authority • Prince William Sound: 0 on economics af- A grisly graveyard 9 Stop Press May , 8 Eea fecting endangered The United States has joined ouaio i species, he writes: • Astrid Lindgren wins miios "It is a fact of eco- Schweitzer Medal 10 Tanzania, Hungary, Austria, (esimaes Kenya, and Gambia in pro- nomic life that the It is estimated that 5 million over-exploitation of • Murder in the posing Appendix I listing for Amazon 4 the African elephant. elephants roamed Africa in 1970. species, even to the Somalia, Chad, Niger and Today, there may be less than (Continued on • Books 6 Senegal are expected tojoin. 500,000 remaining. page 8) "ocumes sow US Sugica ai eceios Ieaioa aou $0,000 i 88 a 8" Hirsch told The Times, "We do have people when it was discovered that Perceptions In- staplers to potential customers. The dog who are involved in animal-rights organi- ternational, the security consultants, and dealers who have sold the animals to the zations who report to us regularly." Perceptions Press, publisher of The Animal company include some with unsavory repu- A previous Times article (January 13, Rights Reporter, which calls itself "A tations and at least one with a criminal 1989), stated: "A man who has Monthly Objec- record. For example, in 1983, dealer acknowledged driving an animal- tive Analysis of Rudolf Vrana's truck was stopped by Burl- rights advocate armed with a the Animal ington County SPCA agents who filed 20 bomb to the headquarters of the Rights Move- counts of cruelty against him resulting in United States Surgical Corpora- ment," share an fines of $4980. "The court finds that the tion last November now says he office and use transfer of animals covered with feces, urine was a paid informer cooperating the same mailing and unable to stand constitutes unspeak- with the company and the police permit. able cruelty," Judge Harry Supple said in . Mr. Mead said in the inter- According to a finding Vrana guilty. view that he had been recruited to Stamford Sun- Soon after the dogs and cats were seized strike up a friendship with Ms. day Advocate by the SPCA, two cats and three dogs were Trutt and follow her activities. report dated released to people who identified them as He said he picked her up at her January 31, their missing pets. A large number of home at 30-18 90th Street in 1988, US Surgi- missing animals had been reported in the Jackson Heights, Queens, on the Leon Hirsch, President of US cal's sales for area during the preceding year. night of Nov. 10 and drove her, Surgical , hold,s a surgical stapler. 1987 were Other sources of dogs included Appala- with the bomb, to United States $252.2 million chian Farms, which the USDA reported Surgical . Mr. Mead and the police both with earnings of $20.1 million. The article had "no facilities... It occurs to us that some said that he was working for a security con- refers to "a 1984 SEC investigation that irregularity is involved." sulting company, Perceptions International charged the company with inflating its earn- of Stratford. But the company's president, ings between 1979 and 1981 by falsifying Lobbying by US Surgical Jan Reber, denied that Mr. Mead worked records...US Surgical settled the case, re- US Surgical took an intense interest in for Perceptions." stating its earnings, but never admitted to the Improved Standards for Laboratory As the story developed, it has been re- any wrongdoing." Leon Hirsch was quoted Animals amendments to the Animal Wel- liably reported that US Surgical paid Per- as saying, "Nobody can point a finger and fare Act, seeking every possible means to say anything was ever proven." prevent enactment during the four years of Credited by US Surgical with starting the consideration of its precursor bills by SEC investigation was a former employee, Congress. US Surgical's lobbyist, Dennis Alan Blackman. The article notes, "In Taylor, was the most visibly active oppo- 1984 the company won its suit in Australia nent of the legislation. Mr. Taylor insisted against Blackman, who was found guilty of that US Surgical's trade secrets would be breaching contractual obligations by sell- endangered by the requirement for an Insti- ing copies of its products... the legal fees for tutional Animal Care and Use Committee. the Blackman suits and the SEC investiga- Since he claimed that no pain was inflicted tion totaled $18.5 million." on the dogs, that there was no survival An earlier (November 8, 1981)Stamford surgery, and that the animal quarters were Advocate article reported with respect to excellent, the intense opposition of his the federal Animal Welfare Act that US company appeared to lack a rational basis. FranTrutt (left) at pre-trial hearing; Surgical "did not receive its first federal However, he made clear why salesmen for "She was set up," said her attorney. inspection till 1979, at least three years US Surgical are taught to operate on dogs: after it began operating...because the com- "You cannot send a salesman into an oper- ceptions International over half a million pany did not register with USDA until atjng suite untrained. There are about 200 dollars over the last 14 months. $75,000 al- March 27, 1979." salesmen. Many make over $100,000 a legedly went to a woman who made it her year. They make it talking surgeon's lan- business to pose as an animal rights enthu- US Surgical's dog dealers guage," he said. siast and tape conversations whenever they Large numbers of random-source dogs Members of Congress and their aides appeared advantageous to her employers. are used each year by US Surgical to train were invited to spend an all-expenses-paid A further curious link was established sales staff for demonstration of surgical weekend in Norwalk, including a tour of 2 US Surgical's facilities. US Surgical was unique in this form of lobbying against the Improved Standards for Laboratory Ani- Who are the players in this melodrama? mals amendments. These excerpts from news reports are intended to help interested readers Spying at US Surgical keep the strange events straight by identifying the participants. At the time, the corporation's attempts to spy on and manipulate animal rights groups were unknown, but the activities evidently overlapped. The possibility of links with activities of the National Institutes of Health Marc Mead 20): "Protecting is a subject of wide speculation.